Say Nazi Five Times Fast!

It’s easy, ain’t it? Maybe even a little too easy? I think it may have been a bit too easy for me last night over dinner with four of my favorite British folks and a newfound Swiss friend of mine named Stefan.

Amalea and I had dinner with our new friends at the Couscouserie (yes, they specialize in couscous and go by the name of “Le Couscouserie”) across the street from our apartment. We were all enjoying pleasant conversation, indulging in our couscous and such, and I happened to mention Nazis in passing (like you do) and noticed a change in face from my Swiss friend.

I was curious. So I let it slide for a minute or two and then thought that I’d throw a line out again, just to see if the first was a fluke. So somehow, I mentioned the IBM-Nazi connection and that related book that is in every store I enter (there was a reason why I mentioned it, I promise), and I got the same reaction. So instead of avoiding it, I was curious and thought I’d mention Nazis a couple more times (you know, just in passing and all, it’s easier than you think). I know, I’m a bit of a jackass, but I was too curious to let it go.

In the end, I knew the mentioning indeed made my friend uncomfortable (and I stopped) and I realized that these specific ties to the past are not broken, not even sixty years beyond the fact, and perhaps will not be broken for a much longer time to come. I think Jewish folk speak freely of these sensitive events in jest or humor because of the overwhelming emotional ties that are still being transmitted through the generations. The emotions, I think, are so intense that humor is used as a method of signification, reflecting upon something through means other than direct confrontation.

As victim or relative of victim, it is possible to signify. But is the same possible for the perpetrator or relative of perpetrator? I don’t know. How many children or grand children of white supremacists do you hear telling jokes about their Grandmaster grand daddy? Not too many.

So I learned a few things, thankfully without any unfortunate consequences: the past resonates with us for much longer than I had considered at the time, and that different folks have individual methods of coping and understanding themselves and their families through the lens of the past, perhaps depending on one’s understood relationship to the past (perhaps not). Though this is a bit heavy, I think this too is a central part of my loafing project.

The Abridged Version of My Post: Hooray for pluralism! Boo to totalitarianism! Nazi Nazi Nazi Nazi Nazi (very very fast)!